The Winnipeg Jets confuse me. They make no sense. None. Chris Thorburn was the only player with a CF% above 50. The Jets were out-possessed, yet still managed to out-chance the Rangers. The second line’s decision to dump the puck into the corners and wait for mistakes worked? I’m so confused.

Scoring Chances

-

Even Strength

PP/SH

Chance +/-

Player

For

Vs.

For

Vs.

-

Stuart

5

6

0

1

-2

Ellerby

3

5

0

0

-2

Trouba

6

3

3

0

6

Jokinen

6

5

0

0

1

Peluso

3

2

0

0

1

Halischuk

2

5

1

2

-4

Ladd

6

3

1

0

4

Wright

5

5

1

2

-1

Little

6

4

1

0

3

Thorburn

6

3

0

0

3

Clitsome

6

2

3

0

7

Wheeler

6

3

2

0

5

Byfuglien

10

8

2

2

2

Enstrom

6

8

0

1

-3

Setoguchi

4

5

0

0

-1

Scheifele

3

5

2

0

0

Frolik

4

5

2

0

1

Albert

3

3

0

0

0

-

Even Strength

PP/SH

Chance +/-

Player

For

Vs.

For

Vs.

-

Del Zotto

6

5

0

0

1

Girardi

8

6

0

0

2

Stralman

4

10

0

2

-8

Dorsett

2

2

0

0

0

Brassard

2

3

0

0

-1

Staal

3

7

0

3

-7

Richards

4

6

2

1

-1

Kreider

8

6

2

1

3

Stepan

8

5

2

1

4

Boyle

2

3

0

0

-1

Callahan

4

5

0

1

-2

McDonagh

8

6

2

2

2

Moore

2

5

0

2

-5

Zuccarello

5

6

0

3

-4

Falk

3

2

0

0

1

Nash

8

5

2

0

5

Hagelin

2

4

0

2

-4

Pouliot

4

4

0

0

0

Team

1st (ES)

2nd (ES)

3rd (ES)

Total (ES)

Winnipeg

2 (1)

11 (9)

9 (8)

22 (18)

NY Rangers

5 (4)

6 (6)

7 (6)

18 (16)

Observations

Death, taxes, and a slow Jets start. These things seem inevitable in life do they not? Another first period of being out-chanced and out-scored occurred on Monday night. Usually a recipe for disaster and loss (especially against a Rangers team that doesn’t usually lose when they score first), the Jets had a pretty strong start to the second period that got them back into the game. And who led that charge? Oh you know the usual line of Thorburn-Jokinen-Setoguchi and that sniper John Albert. So typical.

In all seriousness, congrats to John Albert on his first NHL goal. I wasn’t exactly happy that he got the call up, but I’m not going to disapprove of goals from the fourth line. Ditto to Thorburn. Although I still think having him on the jets second line is an atrocity, he didn’t play horribly. No chance in heck should he stay there, or even in the lineup in my opinion, but he held his own for one game. In fact, the Jets second line may have been their best one all around on the night. I don’t know if that makes me momentarily happy, or completely terrified.

What was the main reason for Thorburn jumping so high on the depth chart? Claude did not want to break up his beloved third line. So how did they do? Well he matched them up a lot against Nash, Kreider and Stepan, so at face value I guess things could have gone better. Scheifele and company not only had some of the lowest chance totals on the night, but they were also at the bottom in terms of possession. Again, it’s lovely to have a line to try to shut teams down with, but I question that choice of using a rookie who you have high hopes for offensively in that role.

I’ll mention the fact that Enstrom had the worst chance night out of obligation, but at least he played against difficult opponents. Mark Stuart on the other hand, has no excuse. He is on the Jets “second pairing” alongside Ellerby, and that also terrifies me. Since they have been put together Ellerby’s play has dropped substantially, and we have seen him turning more pucks over, more regularly being in the negatives in these reviews, and just simply not looking comfortable. They were mostly matched up against the Rangers line of Hagelin, Moore and Zuccarello, yet still managed to be below the .500 mark. I don’t know what Claude Noel is seeing in Stuart.

I thought both Jacob Trouba and Dustin Byfuglien had solid games. Byfuglien made multiple outlet passes that sent the Jets down the other way, while Trouba was his usual steady self. Trouba isn’t afraid to jump into a play, yet doesn’t leave his defensive partner hanging. (Good thing too, he’s playing with Clitsome a lot). I don’t want to get caught up in the hype, but the kid makes it hard not to.

If I’m Anton Stralman, I’m left scratching my head after this game. He had a CF% of 58.8% during 5 on 5 play, played most of the game against the Jets fourth line, yet was a -8 on the chance count. That doesn’t happen very often.

The Jets power play didn’t get out-chanced so…progress?

Final Thought

This was a game that saw a lot of things turn out well for the Jets. They managed to open up a lot of opportunities without a lot of possession, and they took advantage of them. It’s not a recipe for success, but it’s working for now. I miss the Eastern Conference.

I write things, you read them. Then tend to yell at me for them. It's okay though, I'm from Winnipeg. I can take it. If you actually do like what I write, give me a twitter follow here (@thrubeniuk): https://twitter.com/thrubeniuk